1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to game cards such as playing cards widely available in commerce in decks of 52 cards, and particularly to such game cards in which some or all of the indicia on the cards are composed of holographic images that cannot be viewed conveniently from angles oblique of a normal viewing angle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Widely available playing cards are typically used in decks of 52 and bear one of four suit indicia and one of thirteen value or pip indicia. In most card games, all or part of the deck is distributed among the players and each player often is required by the rules of the game to take some action, such as bidding or betting, before actual play commences. In order that any such game be fair and constitute a true test of each player's skill, it is imperative that each player know the contents of his or her hand and that every other player not know the contents of his or her hand.
In card games involving the betting of amounts of money, it is not unknown for fraudulent players or bystanders to attempt to ascertain the holdings in the hand of one of the players which can be used by the other players to obtain an unfair advantage. Another situation where play according to the rules can be frustrated is in games played by children, many of whom are careless in concealing the nature of their card holdings.
No satisfactory approach to alleviation of these problems, other than to encourage players to play their cards "close to the chest," is known.
The art and science of holography are well established, and many articles and treatises regarding the subject are available. A particularly useful and practical work on the subject is "Holography Handbook," by Unterseher, et al. (Ross Books, Berkeley, 1982).